The 2018 CWA Dagger winners were announced on Thursday 25th October 2018, at a ceremony at the Grange City Hotel in central London. For a complete list of 2018 CWA Dagger shortlisted titles and authors, click here.

Martin Edwards, Chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), introduced the ceremony and the Master of Ceremonies was Barry Forshaw.

CWA DIAMOND DAGGER 2018

Red Herrings Award

Special award to Mike Stotter, Ali Karim, and Ayo Onatade (all of Shots Magazine); and David Stuart Davies (editor of Red Herrings, the monthly in-house publication of the CWA) for services to Crime & Mystery fiction.

Thank you for reading the 2018 CWA Dagger Winners on bestcrimebooks.com. We will soon be initiating an email list. Please check back regularly for updates.

Ann Cleeves was awarded the Diamond Dagger, and Mari Hannah was presented with the Dagger in the Library award. The after-dinner speaker was Robert Thorogood, writer and creator of Death in Paradise, and master of ceremonies was noted crime fiction buff, Barry Forshaw.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Spook Street (John Murray) by Mick Herron

Also shortlisted:You Will Know Me (Picador) by Megan AbbottThe Killing Game (Bookouture) by J S CarolWe Go Around in the Night and Are Consumed by Fire (Myriad Editions) by Jules GrantRedemption Road (Hodder & Stoughton) by John HartThe Constant Soldier (Mantle) by William Ryan

CWA Gold Dagger forNon-Fiction

Close But No Cigar: A True Story of Prison Life in Castro’s Cuba (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) by Stephen Purvis

Also shortlisted:A Dangerous Place (The History Press) by Simon FarquharThe Scholl Case: The Deadly End of a Marriage (Text Publishing) by Anja Reich-OsangThe Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer (Bloomsbury Publishing) by Kate SummerscaleA Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End of World War II (Jonathan Cape) by A. T. WilliamsAnother Day in the Death of America (Guardian Faber Publishing) by Gary Younge

Celebrating its 60th year, the British Crime Writers’ Association has announced the first batch of its coveted Daggers Awards. The Gala Awards Dinner was held on Monday 15 July at Kings Place in London and was hosted by television personality and former Tory MP, Gyles Brandreth. The highlights of the Awards (so far announced) are:

Andrew Taylor has won his third CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger for his novel The Scent of Death. No one else has won the award three times.

The CWA International Dagger has been shared by two French authors, Fred Vargas (for Ghost Riders of Ordebec)Â and Pierre Lemaitre (for Alex). Fred Vargas has previously won the Award in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

The CWA Diamond Dagger 2013 was presented to Lee Child, from last year’s winner, Frederick Forsyth.

The 2013 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger was presented to Paul French for Midnight in Peking, which told the story of the murder of a former UK consul in Peking in 1938.

Stella Duffy won the CWA Short Story Dagger for her storyÂ Come Away with Me, which firstÂ appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Volume 10, edited by Maxim Jakubowski.

The longlists were announced for the CWA Gold, Steel and John Creasey Daggers. They were:

CWA Gold Dagger Longlist

Belinda Bauer for Rubbernecker (Bantam/Transworld)

Lauren Beukes for The Shining Girls (HarperCollins)

Sam Hawken for Tequila Sunset (Serpent’s Tail)

Mick Herron for Dead Lions (Soho Crime)

Becky Masterman for Rage Against the Dying (Orion)

Sara Paretsky for Breakdown (Hodder & Stoughton)

Michael Robotham for Say You’re Sorry (Sphere)

Don Winslow for The Kings of Cool (Heinemann)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Longlist

Roger Hobbs for Ghostman (published by Transworld)

Liz Jensen for The Uninvited (Bloomsbury)

Malcolm Mackay for The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter (Pan Macmillan)

Stuart Neville for Ratlines (Random House)

Mark Oldfield for The Sentinel (Head of Zeus)

Andrew Williams for The Poison Tide (John Murray)

Robert Wilson for Capital Punishment (Orion)

CWA John Creasy Dagger Longlist

Roger Hobbs for Ghostman (Doubleday)

Hanna Jameson for Something You Are (Head of Zeus)

Malcolm Mackay for The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter (Mantle)

Becky Masterman for Rage Against the Dying (Orion)

Derek B Miller for Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber)

Thomas Mogford for Shadow of the Rock (Bloomsbury)

Michael Russell for The City Of Shadows (Avon)

M D Villiers for City of Blood (Harvill Secker)

The CWA Chair, Alison Joseph said:

“The announcement of the Daggers Awards is always an exciting moment in the CWA’s calenda. The Awards Dinner is an opportunity to celebrate the best of our genre, to award our most talented authors and, most important of all, to introduce our ever-growing readership to more books they will enjoy.”

BEST CRITICAL NONFICTION WORKBooks to Die For edited by John Connolly and Declan BurkeBlood Relations edited by Joseph GoodrichMore Forensics and Fiction by DP Lyle, MDThe Grand Tour edited by Mathew PrichardIn Pursuit of Spenser edited by Otto Penzler

BestCrimeBooks.com congratulates each and every nominee and wishes them all the very best of luck.

The Anthony Awards are given out annually at Bouchercon. The nominating ballots for the 2013 Anthony Awards have been e-mailed to most registered attendees, as of 3/2/13. Others will receive ballots as their registration is processed.

The Anthony Awards are named after the esteemed California-based writer and critic, Anthony Boucher (1911-1969). Boucher’s real name was William Anthony Parker White. From 1942 to 1947 he reviewed popular fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle. He became a popular and respected editor, giving many influential writers their start. He wrote five mystery novels under as Anthony Boucher, starting with the ground-breaking The Case of the Seven of Calvary in 1937, and another two under another pseudonym H.H. Holmes.

Mystery Readers International have announced theÂ 2012 Macavity Award Nominees. Also known as the “Anthonies”, these awards are the ultimate accolade in the crime wand mystery reading world.

The winners will be announced atÂ Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, which is to be held in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, over the weekend of October 4-7. The award is named after the “mystery cat” in T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). To be nominated, books and Stories need to have been published in the USA during 2011.

The nonimees are:

Best Mystery Novel

1222Â by Anne Holt, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Scribner)Claire DeWitt and the City of the DeadÂ by Sara Gran (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)The House of SilkÂ by Anthony Horowitz (Mulholland Books)The RidgeÂ by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)A Trick of the LightÂ by Louise Penny (Minotaur)The Two Deaths of Daniel HayesÂ by Marcus Sakey (Dutton)Hell & GoneÂ by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland Books)

Best Mystery-Related Nonfiction

Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom ProcedureÂ by Leslie Budewitz (Linden)Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her NotebooksÂ by John Curran (HarperCollins)Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook NovelÂ by A.B. Emrys (McFarland)The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the EdgeÂ by T.J. English (William Morrow)The Sookie Stackhouse CompanionÂ by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

Best crime books are our passion and we will not countenance anything but the best, you understand. North American readers may be confused by our title: what you call mysteries are what we call crime books. This mighty genre covers a wealth of writing, from thrillers and suspense novels, to survival, hard-boiled noir and Golden Age mysteries. We enjoy such sub-genres as the political thriller, courtroom dramas, the techno-thriller, police procedurals, private dicks, a spot of adventure and even a heist or two.

Best Crime Books: 5 Great Crime Novels

Sometimes we don’t why the best crime books are our favourites. Sometimes they’re not even classed as proper crime or mystery books.

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips

Wobble To Death by Peter Lovesey

Killshot by Elmore Leonard

Those are five wonderful novels but are they really the best crime books of all time. Of course not, but you’ve got to start somewhere. On a different day a different person would pick a totally different list of best crime novels. On a different day the same person would also pick a completely different list.

The thing about crime and mystery novels is that much of it comes down to preference. A big factor is style. Then there’s mood. Some aficionados rate P.D. James as one of our greatest living (or dead) authors; others can’t stand her or her writing. Elmore Leonard is seen by many as the finest author ever to pen a thriller, whereas others can’t see what the fuss is all about. During his lifetime, Edgar Wallace was one of the most read authors on the planet, who could write a novel in a week or less. Now it is hard to see what all the fuss was about. Different times, different styles, different likes and dislikes.

When it comes to the best crime books, everyone has an opinion and every opinion is valid. Happy reading!

R.J. Ellory has received one of the most prestigious awards in crime writing after his novel A Simple Act of Violence scooped this yearâ€™s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

Beating off stiff competition from a shortlist that included genre giants Ian Rankin, Peter James and Mark Billingham R.J. Ellory also beat a number of longlisted heavy-weights from the cream of Britainâ€™s crime writers including Val McDermid, Martina Cole and Peter Robinson.

The Birmingham born author was presented the prize at a ceremony hosted by broadcaster and regular festival goer Mark Lawson on the opening night (Thursday 22 July) of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. He receives a Â£3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Now in its sixth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing, and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback in 2009.

The judging panel, which included Jenni Murray, BBC Radio 4 broadcaster and author; John Dugdale, Guardian Associate Media Editor; Natalie Haynes, comedian and journalist; Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd; and a public online vote that represented a 20% share of the all-new judging process, was very impressed by Elloryâ€™s novel. Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston, said:

â€œThe standard of the shortlist was particularly high this year and our decision was a tough one. However, R.J. Elloryâ€™s A Simple Act of Violence is a most impressive, fascinating and surprising book and a worthy winner of this yearâ€™s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. A fast-paced thriller, each page seems to bring about a new twist and take you deeper into a world that could only have come from a true master of crime fiction. â€

Ellory was completely stunned upon hearing the news: â€œI donâ€™t think anyone not in my shoes can understand the definition of speechless. I am utterly speechless. This has really taken me aback. I feel acknowledged for doing something different. Thank you, Iâ€™m grateful beyond words.â€

The public has spoken: after three weeks of voting, crime fans have chosen their favourite crime novels for the shortlist of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country.

This year, crime aficionados have welcomed two debut authors to the crime-writing hall of fame: Tom Rob Smith, author of Booker Prize-nominated Child 44; and Elly Griffiths whose debut The Crossing Places is the first in a new series mysteries following the adventures of forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway.

Despite knocking-out a number of longlisted heavy-weights such as Val McDermid, Martina Cole and Peter Robinson, the newcomers still face stiff competition in the final stage as they go head to head with such genre giants as Ian Rankin, Peter James and Mark Billingham (who has claimed the title on two previous occasions).

The shortlist in full:

In the Dark by Mark Billingham

The Surrogate by Tania Carver

A Simple Act of Violence by R.J. Ellory

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

Dead Tomorrow by Peter James

Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway

Doors Open by Ian Rankin

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Now in its sixth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing, and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback in 2009.

The winner of the prize will be announced by radio broadcaster and festival regular Mark Lawson on the opening night of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on Thursday 22nd July. The winner will receive a Â£3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.

Best First Novel
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Delacorte)
Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti (Wm. Morrow)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur)
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville (Soho Crime)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Picador)

Best Nonfiction
L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City by John Buntin (Random House: Harmony Books)
Talking about Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf) Rogue Males: Conversations & Confrontations About the Writing Life by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
The Line Up: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives, edited by Otto Penzler (Little, Brown & Co)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (Penguin Press)
Dame Agatha’s Shorts: An Agatha Christie Short Story Companion by Elena Santangelo (Bella Rosa Books)

Sue Feder Historical
A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell (Forge)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur)
A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd (Wm. Morrow)
Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear (Henry Holt)

Best Short Story
“Last Fair Deal Gone Down” by Ace Atkins in Crossroad Blues (Busted Flush Press)
“Femme Sole” by Dana Cameron in Boston Noir (Akashic Books)
“Digby, Attorney at Law” by Jim Fusilli, (AHMM, May 2009)
“Your Turn” by Carolyn Hart in Two of the Deadliest (Harper)
“On the House” by Hank Phillippi Ryan in Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers (Level Best Books)
“The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away” by Marcus Sakey in Thriller 2: Stories You Just Canâ€™t Put Down (Mira)
“Amapola” by Luis Alberto Urrea in Phoenix Noir (Akashic Books).

Bestselling author Val McDermid has been named as the recipient of this yearâ€™s prestigious CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, which honours outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing. The announcement has been made by the Crime Writersâ€™ Association in recognition of Valâ€™s work over more than 20 years.

Margaret Murphy, chair of the CWA, said: â€œThe CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger award acknowledges the work of an author who has made an outstanding contribution to the genre.

â€œVal McDermid is a worthy winner whose work has entertained and thrilled millions of readers as well as many more who have enjoyed the TV adaptations her books have inspired.â€

The CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger is the latest accolade in a highly successful career which last year saw Val inducted into the Hall of Fame at the ITV3 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards, whose partners include the CWA.

In 1995 she won the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year for The Mermaids Singing, which first introduced her readership to Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, and went on to become an international bestseller. Fever of the Bone is the sixth novel of this series which inspired the popular ITV series Wire in the Blood.

Val is a top 10 bestseller who has been translated into 40 languages, with more than two million copies sold in the UK and 10 million worldwide. She has written 23 bestselling novels.

The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement. In winning the Gold Dagger and the £2,500 prize, William Brodrick joins a long and illustrious line stretching back to 1955 and The Little Walls by Winston Graham, now best known as the author of the Poldark novels.

The judges described A Whispered Name as “A moving novel that stretches the parameters of the crime genre, intertwining past and present and throwing light on a neglected aspect of World War One.” In accepting his award, William Brodrick said, “I find myself in the hinterland of speechlessness… I would like to dedicate the award to the memory of Harry Patch and the generation he came to represent.”

John Hart, the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and a £2,000 cheque is the Edgar-Award winning author of two international bestsellers, The King of Lies and Down River. The judges said that The Last Child, his third book, was, “An accomplished and ambitious piece of southern gothic. It is beautifully rendered, with a cast of memorable characters – full of pathos, atmosphere and mystery. A cracking and original story.”

Johan Theorin, the winner of the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and a £1,000 cheque, said, “Britain is home to most of the greatest mystery writers in the world, from Conan Doyle, Christie and Creasey and up to all the fine writers who are still alive and active today – and as a Swede I couldn’t dream of competing with them. But to my big surprise and honour, I guess I have.” The judges described Echoes from The Dead as “a finely written intrigue… in which the island where the action takes place is as much a player in the drama as the people are.”

Philip Kerr, the author of the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award-winning If The Dead Rise Not is the author of five other acclaimed Bernie Gunther novels and is acknowledged as one of today’s finest thriller writers. He learned of his success at a presentation ceremony held at Six Fitzroy Square, London on 29 October 2009.

The Crime Writers’ Association is delighted to announce the shortlists for a number of this year’s Daggers – the prestigious awards that celebrate the very best in crime and thriller writing in 2009.

The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement.

The winners will be announced at a drinks reception held at the Tiger Tiger nightspot in London on the evening of July 15. At that event, the shortlist will also be announced for the Gold, John Creasey (New Blood) and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers.

CWA Chair Margaret Murphy said: “The strength of the Daggers shortlists, and even those writers who missed out, shows that crime writing remains in good shape.”

The first phase of shortlists are as follows:

THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER

For crime, thriller, suspense or spy novels which have been translated into English from their original language, for UK publication. £1000 prize money for the author and £500 for the translator.

Shortlist:

Karin Alvtegen, Shadow, translated from the Swedish by McKinley Burnett, Canongate 2009 [2007]Judges’ comments: This well-crafted novel of damage repeated from generation to generation infuses melodrama with a meditation on the cost of writing.

Arnaldur Indriðason, Arctic Chill, translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder & Victoria Cribb, Harvill Secker 2008 [2005]Jo Nesba, The Redeemer comments: Indriðason employs a recognised police-procedural form to transcend a familiar Scandinavian gloom into something more interesting – an insistent examination of Iceland’s discovery that its apparently tight little island is implicated in a worldwide social problem.

Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played With Fire (MacLehose Press, Quercus), Trans. From the Swedish by Reg Keeland, MacLehose Quercus 2009 [2006]Judges’ comments: This second novel of the Millennium trilogy interweaves an unusual range of characters in a plot of remarkable complexity.

Jo Nesbo, The Redeemer, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett, Harvill Secker 2009 [2005]Judges’ comments: Harry Hole, Nesbo’s series detective, dominates an impressively twisty plot which ranges from his own career to Norway’s past.

Johan Theorin, Echoes from the Dead, translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy, Doubleday 2008 [2008]Judges’ comments: Working within the genre, Theorin evokes place and social history as well as character, while mastering the balance of clues and plot-twists.

Fred Vargas, The Chalk Circle Man, translated from the French by SiÃ¢n Reynolds Harvill Secker 2009 [1996]Judges’ comments: This first Adamsberg novel is already a remarkable demonstration of Vargas’s ability to open with an odd event and follow it into an unhappy past.

Judging Panel:

Ann Cleeves, non-voting chair, is an award-winning crime writer.
MaiLin Li works for Kirklees Libraries and is a freelance literature specialist and promoter.
Ruth Morse teaches English Literature at the University of Paris. She is a frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement.Â
John Murray-Browne is a bookseller.

CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER

Any crime short story first published in the UK in English in a publication that pays for contributions or broadcast in the UK in return for payment, between 1st June 2008 and 31st May 2009. Prize money £1500.

Shortlist

Speaking of Lust by Lawrence Block from Crime Express series (Five Leaves Publications)Judges’ comments: Four tales of lasciviousness and its fatal aftermath by one of the godfathers of the genre.

One Serving of Bad Luck by Sean Chercover from Killer Year, Lee Child, ed. (Mira)Judges’ comments: Neat, tight and economical, this is a new take on the private eye; the auguries are good for a major crime writing career for this writer.

Cougar by Laura Lippman from Two of the Deadliest, Elizabeth George, ed. (Hodder & Stoughton)Judges’ comments: A serrated knife in the gut of gender politics by an expert practitioner of the genre.

The Price of Love by Peter Robinson from The Blue Religion, Michael Connelly, ed. ( Back Bay Books)ÂJudges’ comments: A boy finally understands the brutal criminal implications of an incident in his childhood.

Served Cold by ZoÃ« Sharp from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Maxim Jakubowski, ed. (Constable & Robinson)Judges’ comments: Justice, revenge, danger. All elements of a tale of lost love and its tragic consequences.

Mother’s Milk by Chris Simms from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Maxim Jakubowski, ed. (Constable & Robinson)Judges’ comments: A deceptively low key story of a thief and a conman who has the tables painfully turned on him.

Judges

Simon Brett is a radio presenter, man of the theatre and writer of civilized and witty crime entertainments.
Ayo Onatade – not content with running the lives of senior judges, she is also a well-connected crime journalist.

CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Sponsored by The Random House Group
Authors are nominated by UK libraries and Readers’ Groups and judged by a panel of librarians. It is awarded to an author for a body of work, rather than a single title. Prize money: £1,500, plus £300 to a participating library’s readers’ group.

Shortlisted

Simon BeckettJudges’ comments: His books are gripping right from the opening line and notable for descriptions of dead and decaying bodies. Excellently hidden twists and turns. Very sympathetic lead character. Bantam

Colin CotterillJudges’ comments: An unusual hero in an unusual setting. Quirky, funny and very appealing. His books are a truly beautiful read. Publisher: Quercus

R J ElloryJudges’ comments: Sensitively written. Full of depth. Multi-layered and with a real sense of place and an understanding, in the widest sense, of political manoeuverings. Orion

CWA DEBUT DAGGER

Sponsored by Orion
The Debut Dagger is a new-writing competition open to anyone writing in the English language who has not yet had a novel published commercially. First prize is £500 plus two free tickets to the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards and night’s stay for two in a top London hotel. All shortlisted entrants receive a generous selection of crime novels and professional assessments of their entries and are also be invited to the Dagger Awards presentations.

Shortlisted

Frank Burkett – A View from the Clock Tower (Australia)Judges’ comments: An interesting first-person portrayal of a murder mystery set in Australia; family betrayals and dark secrets from the past.

Yet another TV serial killer saga from La Plante, who must have slaughtered more prostitutes in her career than you or I have had warm goats cheese tarts. Above Suspicion features the doziest female copper ever seen on the small screen, in the tightest skirt and tightest blouse ever seen in Scotland Yard, all corseted up like some Victorian heroine who actually dates the prime suspect and puts herself in mortal danger. A right dodgy boiler in fact, but, who you know in the end will solve the case which much smarter police officers haven’t managed to do after twelve years. The best acting award surprisingly enough was the ex-copper out of ‘Heartbeat’. Above Suspicion? Beneath contempt, more like it.

Here we go again, another year older and deeper in debt, literally, if you believe everything you read in the papers. But there are still a lot of great crime novels out there to keep your mind off the credit crunch this winter, so stick around and check out these winners with me.

Kicking off the list in fine style is the latest D.I Faraday novel, The Price Of Darkness by Graham Hurley (Orion H/B £9.99) It all starts off with what looks like a professional hit on a property developer with an interest in an M.O.D. site in Portsmouth which could yield rich pickings if turned into residential homes.Â Then a government minister is assassinated. Whatâ€™s the connection? Also, there’s a problem with ex-copper and Faraday’s old sparring partner Paul Winter who is now working for Bazza Mackenzie, Pompey’s leading crime lord. But has he really left the side of the angels? As I’ve said before, Hurley just gets better and better, and this book is his best so far.

Another writer who rarely disappoints is Jonathan Kellerman, and his new novel, Obsession (Michael Joseph H/B £14.99) featuring psychologist Alex Delaware is no exception. A patient from the past shows up at Alex’s office to try and discover what terrible secret her mother tried to divulge on her deathbed. With the assistance of cop buddy Milo Sturgis, Alex delves deeply into what turns out to be a plot involving the great and the good of Los Angeles high society and the dregs of the city’s low life. A read-in-one-go book.

The same could be said for Eye Of The Beholder by David Ellis (Quercus H/B £14.99) where, again, the past throws up secrets that were better hidden, as attorney Paul Riley discovers that the case that he has built his career on may not have been all it seemed. A serial killer brought to justice fifteen years previously could have had accomplices, as more grisly murders in his style are perpetrated, and the killer has Riley in his sights. Edgar Award winner Ellis delivers the goods from the first to the last page.

Twenty-five years ago, fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigges’ family just vanished one night, and twenty-five years later she’s none the wiser as to what happened to them. It was a cause celebre for a while, then forgotten, but not by her, or the man she subsequently married. Then a cold case TV show highlights her story and suddenly it’s front page news again. People are being murdered left, right and centre and that’s not all. Mystery piles on mystery in a striking debut, No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Orion H/B £9.99) If you admire the novels of Harlen Coben, then this book should be top of your Christmas list.

When Joe Denton, disgraced ex-cop gets out of prison, he finds he’s not welcome back in the town he used to police. His wife and daughter have fled. His mother and father can barely stand him near them, and his old colleagues want him dead or gone, or preferably both. He’s attacked, and then wrongly accused of rape, but Joe just won’t leave things alone, as his life appears to resemble a car crash in slow motion. Violent, but with an edge of graveyard humour, Small Crimes by David Zelserman (Serpents Tail P/B Â£7.99) shows the author to be the natural successor to Jim Thompson, which as far as I’m concerned can be no greater accolade.

Fans of John Harvey, and there are many, will celebrate the resurrection of Charlie Resnick in Cold In Hand (William Heinemann H/B £12.99) Charlie is now living in harmony with D.I. Lynn Kellogg, until she gets shot and is blamed for the death of a young black girl. Resnick is called into the case which causes some aggro at home, but worse is to come. Much worse, and he goes into decline. Understandably. But eventually all comes clear and he manages to find some peace in a far-off country. Harvey writes what are definitely in the top three police procedurals in the UK, filled with humanity and understanding of the human condition, plus a few sharp words on our immigration policy. No wonder he’s collecting so many awards these days.

What could be a better time to disappear off the face of the earth than in New York in the aftermath of 9/11? This is the premise of the latest, and finest novel so far featuring Detective-Superintendent Roy Grace by Peter James (Dead Man’s Footsteps – Macmillan H/B £16.99) as the Brighton based copper travels to the Big Apple to investigate the last days of a local businessman who just doesn’t seem to be as dead as he wants the world to believe. Cracking, with a real sting in its tail.

As Los Angeles burns around them, Elvis Cole and his buddy, Pike roam the city, looking for proof that, seven years ago, the pair didn’t provide tainted evidence that freed a guilty man on a murder charge, leaving him able to kill and kill again. Crais is among the best of the best, and Chasing Darkness (Orion H/B £12.99) proves it once again. Elvis (Crazy name, crazy guy) has definitely not left the building!

And finally, a reprint that’s been a long time coming but has been well worth the wait. Homicide-A Year on The Killing Streets by David Simon (Canongate P/B £12.99) first published in the early nineties is the big, fat true crime masterpiece featuring the Baltimore police force that begot the wonderful TV series Homicide-Life On The Streets that begot The Wire. Need I say more?

The latest D.I. Faraday novel, The Price Of Darkness by Graham Hurley starts off with what looks like a professional hit on a property developer. The dead man was involved in an M.O.D. site in Portsmouth with potentially rich pickings. Then a government minister is assassinated. What’s the connection? Also, there’s a problem with ex-copper and Faraday’s old sparring partner Paul Winter who is now working for Bazza Mackenzie, Pompey’s leading crime lord. But has he really left the side of the angels? Hurley just gets better and better, and this book is his best so far.Elvis McBeth

The Big Sleep is Raymond Chandler’s masterpiece. The best crime novel ever written bar none. Almost single-handedly Chandler invented the genre of the hard drinking, hard smoking, hard loving, sharply dressed, first person, private detective, with a wisecrack for every occasion, and a bullet for every bad guy and gal. Over the last seventy years, his hero Philip Marlowe has been the template for dozens of crime writers. Just think Ross Macdonald, John D. MacDonald, Robert B. Parker, Derek Marlowe, Alan Sharp, Timothy Harris, Roger L. Simon, Robert Crais, and yours truly, plus loads more. (Not all first person I admit, but well in the Chandler groove, and if you don’t know any of these authors, Google them)

The novel opens with a paragraph that has been quoted time and time again as a classic of the genre. I donâ€™t intend to reprint it here, just read the book if you havenâ€™t already. And if you havenâ€™t shame on you.

Simply, the plot of the novel is that a rich old man with two beautiful daughters who make Paris Hilton look tame is being blackmailed. Enter Marlowe, who cuts a swathe through the Los Angeles demimonde, and solves the case quick fast.